


Shifting Perceptions

by Tahlruil



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Meddling Kids, Minor Character Death, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Stony Bingo, Stony Bingo 2016, Sudden family, Terminal Illnesses, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-08-31 12:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8578516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahlruil/pseuds/Tahlruil
Summary: Most days, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are friends, and Steve's pretty sure he knows just about all there is to know about Tony. And sure, on occasion maybe he thinks 'friends' isn't enough, but it's also more than he'd hoped for at first, so he'll take it. He never figured anything would happen that might change his mind, but then he never knew about Harley Keener, either. When tragic circumstances arise, Steve finds his world shifting, and soon being friends doesn't seem like such a good deal anymore.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another WIP, because why the fuck not? :D I'm behind in both NaNo and where I wanted to be in Stony Bingo, so I'm racing to fix both. ^.^;
> 
> This fic is going to be largely compliant with all the films, except for Civil War because that movie gives me _FEELINGS_ and many of them are not pleasant, so I like to pretend it didn't happen when I'm writing. 
> 
> One major exception is Clint! He is NOT married - Laura is Barney's wife, not his. His personality is also going to be a lot closer to Avengers Assemble Clint, because I love him and he is amazing and I think that Clint should be in every Avengers universe ever.
> 
> Comments? Please? <33

It was strange, Steve reflected absently, how long-held beliefs could somehow shatter in an instant. One minute, you knew with absolute certainty where you stood and how the world worked… the next, everything felt _wrong_. Well, maybe wrong wasn’t exactly it, but his world certainly felt askew, off-kilter. He’d held the same opinion of Tony for years – had formed it very shortly after their initial meeting, in fact.

Oh, that first impression had been a disaster, sure. One of nearly catastrophic proportions, and Steve could admit that with no problem and only a small flare-up of the old guilt. But see, after Tony’d flown that nuke through the wormhole, Steve’d known he was wrong. That small eternity during which he’d thought Tony (Stark then, only Stark) dead, Steve had truly mourned. He’d grieved for the man he’d so misjudged, ached for a lost chance and yet another fallen comrade – one who could have been a friend if only things had been different.

And then Tony _wasn’t_ dead, and Steve got that chance at friendship. His second impression of the man locked into place and held. Tony Stark was a study in contrasts, one that Steve found endlessly fascinating. Selfish and generous beyond comprehending in turns; a team player who pretended to be happier alone; boastful and arrogant but so insecure that it just about broke Steve’s fucking heart sometimes. Beyond all of that… Tony was an _asshole_. He pushed and pushed and _pushed_ until you couldn’t help but snap. The man snarked, teased, taunted and sassed relentlessly, like his life depended on it. Steve found it infuriating or wonderful, depending on his own mood.

On the best of days, they sassed in synch, and the rest of the team lived in fear of their pranks. They could cooperate, hardly needing a word between them to really communicate. On those very best of days, they clicked effortlessly the way they almost always managed on the battlefield. They didn’t happen often, but God Almighty did Steve love it when they did. Good days were a little harder, a little more frustrating – one of them would be out of step, leaving the other grasping and fumbling. When Tony was the one who was off, Steve brought food to the ‘shop, or drew little cartoons of the ‘bots to leave for Tony to find; when Steve struggled, Tony gentled his teasing a bit, turned up the heat in the tower, and sometimes dragged him out on crazy adventures. Good days were (thankfully) becoming the norm, edging out the awful days at last.

Because Steve and Tony didn’t _have_ ‘bad’ days – that was far too mild a term. When they were both off, both struggling to find their footing and aching for what they’d lost, the tower turned into a war zone. On those days, they ripped each other to shreds with their words, then poured salt into the wounds they’d inflicted. They zeroed in on each other’s weaknesses with deadly accuracy, and tore at them mercilessly. On the very worst of days, Steve longed for the civility they’d shown each other on the helicarrier or found himself wishing he could inflict physical damage instead of just emotional trauma. In the beginning, when there’d been more horrible days than anything else, he’d pictured himself hurting Tony more than he’d ever be willing to admit. His first month or so in the tower, he’d practically lived in the gym with perpetually raw knuckles from beating on sandbags as an alternative to Tony’s face.

Thankfully, those days were getting fewer and further between, though the mess with Ultron had set them back a few paces. Still, they’d worked it out, and Steve had even offered his knowledge of Bucky’s survival as a peace offering; trusting Tony to help him find his best friend and watching the genius take the task completely seriously went a long way toward healing the hurts between them. Now Steve could say truthfully and with certainty that they were friends… at least as much as they could be. Tony didn’t like to let people too close, after all – Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes were anomalies, not the general rule. Steve didn’t dare strive for such closeness, because he was sure he would be disappointed; no one else would ever be given the keys to Tony Stark’s heart. The man guarded it more fervently than he did even his tech – fiercely and, when the need called for it, with absolute viciousness.

Thirty-five minutes ago, Steve would have gone with that long-held impression. Tony Stark was a guarded asshole and yet one of his closest friends in this century. Tony loved two people – his Pepper and his Rhodey – and there wasn’t room for anyone else, not really.

Thirty-five minutes ago, he would have laughed at the idea of Tony have kids or any other long-term emotional connections. Would have scoffed at Tony having _any_ real connections outside of his two people and the Avengers, in fact.

Thirty-five minutes ago, Steve would have said that while Tony cared deeply for people, most of the time he didn’t care in a way that was _personal_.

Forty minutes ago, Friday had interrupted a debriefing with an urgent call from someone named ‘Harley’. While the rest of the group looked at each other in confusion, Steve had watched Tony go pale, lips thinning in a show of emotion – anger maybe? Maybe fear? Despite that, he’d expected Tony to tell Friday this Harley person would have to wait. Since the split with Ms. Potts, he’d been much more solemn, more focused on the Avengers and a lot more responsible – at least off the field, where he was the same reckless asshole he’d always been. He hardly ever ducked out of debriefings or other meetings and sometimes even paid actual attention to what was going on. He even turned in his paperwork, which had nearly given Steve a heart-attack the first time, and had Clint speculating wildly about body snatchers for a good two months.

But instead of telling Friday that he’d get back to Harley later, instead of returning his attention to the discussion at hand, Tony stood so fast he knocked his chair over. Without saying anything to anyone, he exited the room in a hurry, elegant fingers already bringing the latest StarkPhone to his ear.

After the door had slammed shut behind him, there was a long moment of silence… and then all eyes had gone to Steve. Thirty-eight minutes ago, after a token protest of ‘why me?’, Steve had left as well, going on the hunt for a clearly shaken genius.

Thirty-five minutes ago, he’d found him.

Found him talking in a soft, soothing voice, huddled in a room that was barely the size of a closet. Steve found Tony and leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest as he watched and listened. He seemed to be walking this ‘Harley’ person through something – a panic attack maybe, from the sound of it. With a steady patience he so rarely displayed outside of a work-trance, Tony coached whoever it was on the other end through several breathing exercises. Once that did the trick (or so Steve could only assume) they did some sort of visualization. He couldn’t really follow it, something about a potato gun and a bully, and then Tony was smiling softly, affectionately. Steve had only _ever_ seen that look directed at Ms. Potts or Rhodes, or (once) DUM-E. As the call wrapped up, Tony promising that he would fix everything and he’d see Harley soon, Steve felt his curiosity growing stronger. He was also forced to admit that there were still sides and parts of Tony that he clearly didn’t know, didn’t understand… and he was forced to admit that sort of hit him like a punch to the gut.

Thirty-five minutes ago, Tony Stark had once again managed to put his world off-kilter. Watching the genius hang up, Steve was looking forward to getting all the pieces he would need to set it back to rights.

~.~.~

“Everything alright?” Steve kept his voice light, afraid (rightly so) that showing too much concern would set Tony to running. The genius startled, tearing his eyes away from the wall to look at Steve, one hand flying to his chest to cover the place where the arc reactor had used to sit. A tired, pained smile curved his lips, and Steve fought the urge to sling an arm around his shoulders to offer just a bit of comfort.

“Steve. When did you… oh, right. When we were breathing. Look, can we walk and talk? I just had something come up, and I need to take care of some stuff _now_ so I can keep my schedule clear for the next couple weeks.” Without waiting for an answer, Tony slid smoothly into motion, brushing by Steve, who felt the light touch of fingertips on his shoulder – the genius was casual in his touches, and Steve would never admit how much he liked that. Pivoting without hesitation, he fell into step with Tony, watching him from the corner of his eye. “Fry-baby?”

“Boss?”

“I’m going to need the records from the hospital, and all the financial data too. Get rid of that – by _paying_ it, Steve, put that disapproving face away. Get it touch with Dr. Robinson and let him know we’re bringing Mrs. Keener to the tower’s medical floor, so I need him on-call. The quinjet can be ready-”

“Now,” Steve interrupted, knowing Friday was technically supposed to get his stamp-of-approval before anyone used the thing – not that Tony couldn’t work around that. Better to make it simple though, because his curiosity was thoroughly roused. The grateful smile Tony shot his way was definitely a bonus. “It can be ready pretty much now, Friday, with my full authorization on its use. Tony, what’s going on? Who’s Harley?”

“Harley is…” Glancing over at Tony again, Steve watched his lips purse and his fingers tap against his chest – a tic he just couldn’t seem to shake. “Do you remember my stint in Tennessee?”

There was no way Steve could have stopped the explosive snort _that_ ridiculous question drew from him, so he didn’t even try. He added to his incredulity by arching a brow at Tony, arms coming back to cross over his chest. Some of the tension in Tony’s body seemed to drain away, and he grinned back unrepentantly. That caused something in Steve’s chest to tighten for just a moment, a sort of fluttering rising in his stomach. It happened every now and again, and he pushed the feeling aside with the ease of practice – it wasn’t the right time. It was never the right time for them.

“Do you mean the time when you gave a _terrorist_ -”

“Actor. He was an actor.”

“Your _home address_ -”

“Happy almost _died_ Steve, so I really had no choice.”

“On national television, then _dared_ him to attack you-”

“AIM was behind all of it, _Steven_ , so the whole ‘daring a terrorist’ angle is-”

“Which he _did_ and you almost _died_ and never even called me? Is that the stint in Tennessee you’re talking about?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Cap.” There was humor in the set of Tony’s jaw and laughter in his voice, and Steve could feel his own lips twitching in an aborted smile despite his attempt to look stern. Thank God it wasn’t a real fight – they’d had one about the entire misadventure, and it had set off a chain of bad days that lasted nearly a week. It was so good to be able to joke about it now. “Yes. Yes, okay? And it’s not like you called me when all that SHIELD shit went down, so I don’t want to hear it.” Another spectacular fight had happened after that, with a promise made by both of them in the end to keep each other in the loop.

“I had backup. You were alone. Makes it different, and you know it.”

“I had Harley.” Steve paused, then nodded to show his understanding, encouraging Tony to continue. “He’s… he was a kid. Now he’d a slightly older kid. Science nerd who was being bullied at school, dad ran off, mom had to work all the time… typical sob story, I guess. Anyway, he helped me, I helped him, and we sort of… I don’t know. He’s a good kid, you know? Smart as a whip too. He… after it was all over, I went back, talked to his mom. We agreed it was better if people didn’t know we’d met. Didn’t want to put him in danger – Starks and any kids associated with us tend to get kidnapped. He’s got enough shit to deal with, so we didn’t want to add contending with supervillains into the mix. We keep in touch though, and I’ve visited a couple times. We’re… I don’t know. Connected. At least that’s what he says, the idiot.”

“Sounds like you’re close.” Miracle of miracles – and Steve was _not_ jealous that someone else (a child at that) had slipped into Tony’s heart while he wasn’t looking.

“Please. He can barely make a decent sandwich – why would I get close to someone who can’t manage a task as simple as that? And his potato gun… god don’t get me started on that useless monstrosity. No, he’s just a kid who helped me out. He was closer to JAR-” Emotion thickened Tony’s voice before he could get the word out, and this time Steve _did_ throw an arm over his shoulders, dragging him a little closer. They didn’t talk about the loss of the AI – Tony wouldn’t allow it – but they both knew it was one that still cut deeply. “Yeah. They were closer,” he finished lamely, not even trying to escape the hold, allowing Steve to offer what he could.

“If you say so, Shellhead.” Steve didn’t use the nickname much, didn’t like the way it was clearly warm with affection or the feelings it made rise in his chest. Tony gave him a startled look, then smiled and leaned into him just a little more. 

“I do say so. But it’s my duty to keep him out of trouble, even if he is a kitchen-impaired pain-in-my-ass. His sister is better, sweeter – though her taste in cartoons is a bit terrible. His mom…” Pain was there in the twist of his mouth again, a shadow of grief clouding his brown eyes. “She’s sick – cancer. I wish she’d told me right away; I’d have helped her, Steve. I would have gotten her into the best clinic, gotten her the best doctors. I would hav-”

“I know you would have, Tony,” he soothed, giving the man’s shoulders a light squeeze. “So did she. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell you – she didn’t want to be a burden.”

“Yeah, well. Now it’s not looking so good. Harley… they don’t tell him a lot, because he’s so young. One of her friends is her medical proxy, and Harley overheard… it doesn’t look good, Steve.”

“So you’re bringing her here.”

“And the kids, I think. I’ll talk to Harley and Melinda about that when I get there, see if that’s what they want.”

“I’m sure it is. They’ll want to be close to their mom.”

“Yeah… yeah. Hey Fry-baby?”

“More work for me boss?”

“Shut it. See if you can get Pep down here to supervise-”

“Ms. Potts is in France, Tony.”

“Still? Whatever, tell her to come bac-”

“Tony.”

“Steve, it’s fine, she won’t mi-”

“ _Tony_.”

“Fine! Then _you_ can put together rooms for them, Captain Uptight!” Now Tony did pull away from Steve’s hold, throwing his hands up in a show of agitation. “Because I need to go down to the workshop and put the finishing touches on a couple of projects to send off to Pepper. Then I need to Harley-proof it all real quick, and rearrange a few things in my schedule, and let Pep know that I will absolutely be unavailable for the next few weeks. So you get your spangled ass up to my penthouse, get a tablet and pick shit out that will turn two of the guest rooms into magical wonderlands. He’s fifteen and likes building things, she’s seven and likes Dora the fucking Explorer. Go wild!”

“Tony, I can’t… I don’t know anything about kids!”

“Well neither do I! That’s why I need Pepper! She has nieces and nephews! Pep would know what to do!”

“Pepper isn’t here!”

“So DO IT FOR HER!”

“WHY SHOULD I?!”

They’d stopped walking and were facing each other in the hallway, shouting like they were yards apart instead of only a few feet. Steve _hated_ when Tony got like this, all high-handed and pushy, demanding things without even thinking or considering anyone else. It sparked a righteous anger in him, and it always made things escalate quickly. Steve was worried that this was about to turn into a terrible day between them.

Much to his amazement – and dismay – Tony’s expression crumbled, leaving him looking tired and sad and so _vulnerable_. Steve swallowed hard, trying to hold onto his anger and ignoring the voice that was urging him to cup Tony’s cheek in his hand. “Steve… please. I can’t… I can’t do this all by myself.” And God, that did things to him, knowing that Tony wouldn’t ask just anyone for help. This wasn’t quite Tony trusting him with someone of Bucky-level importance, but it was close, and Steve simultaneously melted and swelled with pride to be the one Tony was turning to.

“… yeah. Sorry I yelled. I’ll… I can do that. Fifteen and seven?”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, voice just as subdued as Steve’s. “Friday has files on both of them, stuff they like. I get Christmas and birthday lists and shit, so… I don’t know. Just do your best, I guess. Friday will give you the names of stores that’ll deliver things quick, and don’t… don’t worry about the fucking prices, okay? Let go of your Depression-era thinking, and splurge. Their mom is probably fucking dying, so I want-” Inhaling sharply, Tony shook his head, hands clenching into tight fists.

Without thinking, Steve stepped forward and wrapped Tony up into a tight hug, tucking that tousled black head of hair under his chin. 

“I’ll splurge,” he promised softly. “Do you want me or one of the team to go with you?”

“Maybe Clint,” Tony murmured into his shoulder, where he had his face hidden. “He’s got a niece and nephews too. He might know how to… I don’t know. Put ‘em at ease. He could probably help you with the rooms, now that I think of it. Fuck, he could probably just do them, only I don’t trust him not to be a fucking idiot about it and do something stupid in a piss-poor attempt to make things better.”

“I’ve got the rooms, Tony. I’ll let Clint know and see if he’s willing to go. I’m sure he will be.”

“Hmph. Are you sure you don’t mind? I could probably just call a decorator-”

“Go do what you need to do, Shellhead. I’ve got you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who knows if I'll actually stick to five chapters. I tend to turn even short stories into epics, because I love the sound of my own voice. D:
> 
> I has a [Tumblr](http://tahlreth.tumblr.com/). You should visit it and say hi!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Keeners arrive, and Steve is... unpleasantly surprised to find out that maybe he doesn't know Tony as well as he thinks he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! <3
> 
> So I totally stayed up all night writing this and watching America's Next Top Model. XD If any of it is incomprehensible as a result, please tell me!
> 
> If you have any questions or comments or just want to chat, hit me up here or on my [Tumblr!](http://tahlreth.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Comments give me life. Leave some maybe? <33

Steve was sure he’d made several companies very happy in the past few hours – he’d spent a _lot_ of money putting the penthouse together. It had been strange, being in Tony’s space, especially without him. The whole place felt so… sterile. Empty. Picturing the genius there was almost impossible – there was no trademark Tony Stark personality in sight. The penthouse could have belonged to anyone, and even if he felt vaguely guilty about it, Steve _hated_ it. Thinking of two _children_ occupying the museum-like floor, especially two that had been displaced because their mother was ill and possibly dying?

No. Not if Steve Rogers had anything to say about it.

Tony likely wouldn’t care, but he texted to ask for permission anyway. He could picture the utter amusement that would be on the genius’ face when he answered by giving Steve carte blanche, telling him to go as crazy as he could bring himself to go when the price tags would be so high. If the image caused a tendril of warmth to curl around his heart and a tug of heat low in his stomach, that wasn’t anyone’s business but his own. There was no way he could have brought him to spend such an insane amount of money on himself… but to get a smile from Tony? Yeah, he could do it then. To try and help a couple of scared kids feel even a little more comfortable? _**Hell** yes_.

He went to work with abandon, calling in two moving companies – one to take the old things away and one to cart the new stuff in – Tony’s regular interior decorator, and another whose work he’d been admiring in a few magazines for a while now. He sent ‘Miss Cindy’ (as she insisted on being called) away pretty quickly when she didn’t seem able to grasp that he was trying to warm the place up. He hoped dismissing the woman didn’t cause Tony any problems later on – he knew she’d been working with the billionaire for _years_ , and she’d seemed a bit offended on being shown the door – but Jared just caught on so quickly to what he wanted. In fact, he was so in tune with Steve and so eager to bring that vision to life that Steve felt comfortable giving him the reins in the living area and the bathroom the two kids would be sharing. In the meantime, he busied himself with the guest rooms that would soon be occupied by Harley and Melinda.

Part of him wanted to go into Tony’s room, to see if it was as empty and cold as the rest of the place. If it was, he could redo that as well – he had his friend’s blessing to do whatever he saw fit to do, after all. He was _just_ able to tamp the urge down, realizing how inappropriate that would be.

It was a near thing though.

The amount of money he spent in such a short span of time was nearly obscene, but Steve couldn’t quite bring himself to care once he was looking at the results. He couldn’t wait to show Harley and Melinda, couldn’t wait to sit down with both of them, so he could get to know them and add little personal touches, change what needed changing so they were both comfortable. Jared’s work on the rest of the penthouse was inspired – the pristine, uncomfortable furniture was gone, replaced by pieces that were just as luxurious without being so _intimidating_. It was stuff you could sit down on, relax in; it was meant to be used, not admired from afar. The cold, harsh colors had been banished by his request, and Jared had stuck to the warm, inviting tones Steve had suggested. He was duly impressed by the man’s work and made a mental note to talk him up to Tony. The genius could definitely use a little less cold superficiality and a lot more warmth in his life, after all. Jared would be a much better fit for him than Miss Cindy, in Steve’s opinion.

Maybe he should have left when the movers did, but Steve had an idea for one of the walls in the living room. There hadn’t been time to paint anything, so he hoped Tony would let him do so at a later date. He _really_ hoped Tony would let him put the design he was sketching out (while curled up on the comfortable new couch) up on the wall. Maybe the kids would want custom designs too… that could be a lot of fun to dream up and execute. Might help them take their minds off things too, at least a little. And while he sketched out the image he hoped to paint, he planned outings to keep the kids entertained. Lord knew Tony would try, but the genius had a tendency to disappear into his workshop for hours, even days at a time. It would be best to have a back-up plan for when that inevitably happened.

Steve was so lost in those plans and his art that he didn’t realize Tony was back until he heard the man’s voice. Usually it would have been the approaching elevator, or at very least the door opening… but no. It was Tony, who was clearly talking to his young guests.

“-at’s why, Miss Melly-belly, you cannot use Friday to order yourself candy. Clint’s an adult and he couldn’t handle the responsibility. No sense repeating the mistake with you, munchkin. Unless you _want_ to throw up all over one of my board members,” he teased through the sound of a little girl’s giggling. “In which case we’ll get you more sweets than your adorable little tummy can handle. Oh! Hey. New room, and with a Steve inside! Didn’t expect to see you still here, Cap.”

Steve had looked up, blushing, when he heard his name… and promptly felt his jaw drop and his heart _squeeze_. He’d seen Tony in battle, encased in gleaming armor, and afterwards, bruised and bloody but exhilarated. He’d seen the man after a five-day work binge, bright eyed with manic energy and covered in grease stains, stinking to high heaven. He’d seen morning Tony, rumpled and snarling until he had a cup of coffee in hand; business-man Tony in his fancy suit with perfectly coiffed hair; press Tony in outrageous fashion and a razor-sharp smile. He’d seen Tony in so many ways, so many moods… but he’d never seen Tony like _this_.

He had a little girl wrapped up in one arm, holding her up against his chest. She had both arms wrapped around his neck in return, and was looking at him like he’d hung the moon and the stars in the sky just for her. Tony’s expression was so soft and open, with warmth glowing in those beautiful brown eyes of his. He looked _happy_ , with not a hint of anything but adoration in his smile, all the sharp edges worn away. The tension he usually carried in his face was completely absent, and while Steve had always thought Tony attractive, he’d never seen Tony look so beautiful. God, Steve wanted him to look like this all the time, wanted to have that smile directed at _him_ … and then it was, and his heart stuttered to a stop in his chest.

“Uh…” he started, remembering that Tony’d just said _something_ to him. What the hell had he said?! “Hi Tony.” When nervous, Steve still tended to forget how big his body was now, and subsequently lost all grace and ability to coordinate his long limbs. This situation was making him nervous indeed, and when he got off the couch, he got all tangled up in himself and nearly tripped. He sent his sketchbook tumbling to the floor and nearly followed it, saving himself only through a desperate need to avoid utter embarrassment. Face flaming, he ran a hand through his hair once he stood, struggling to find his words.

The little girl – Melinda – was giggling again, but not in a malicious way. And even if he _knew_ they weren’t related, that twinkle of delighted mischief in her blue eyes was a perfect match for the one in Tony’s, and their grins were eerily similar as well. Harley, standing a bit behind Tony with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head, didn’t look nearly as amused. But then he was older, so he’d have a much better understanding of what was happening. In the twist of his mouth and the hunch of his shoulders, Steve saw himself while his own mother fought for her life; the thought had his protective instincts roaring to life in his chest. He sent a small smile Harley’s way, vowing to be there for the boy whenever he could, then turned his attention back to Tony.

Tony, who was clearly _laughing at him_ internally. At least Melinda was doing it out loud, which brought another smile to his lips.

“Sorry. You surprised me. I didn’t know you were back. I, uh… should I have gone back to my floor?”

“No no! I’m glad you stayed so you could meet the kiddos. Maybe you could show them their rooms while I make dinner?”

“You’re… going to cook?”

“Tony makes the best eggs!” The girl proclaimed proudly, hugging him even tighter around the neck. She pressed her cheek to his, sending Steve a wide-eyed look that pierced his heart. “The best in the world! You ever had ‘em, Mister ‘Merica?”

“You can call me Steve, sweetie.” Steve told her, completely charmed. “I haven’t ever had Tony’s eggs – didn’t even know he could cook, actually.” At that, she looked scandalized. Turning to look at Tony, she brought both hands to his cheeks with a tiny ‘smack’ that made the genius flinch, though he was smiling even brighter. She used her hold on his face to keep Tony looking straight at her, like he could have focused on anything else for long when she was so precious.

“You _never_ made Mister ‘Merica _eggs_?” she asked in what was probably meant to be a whisper. Even Harley was smiling a little now, and Steve was already planning a series of sketches and paintings of Tony and this little angel. “Tony! You gotta make him eggs! Ask him to stay for dinner! Mister ‘Merica! Steve!” she turned so fast in his hold that Tony had to drop the suitcase in his other hand so he could steady her. “Stay for eggs! Pleeeaaaase? So you know Tony makes’m the best. You just gotta.”

“Yeah Steve, You just gotta.” Tony parroted, and then the pair of them were sending him identical pouts. In that moment, Steve realized he’d probably never be able to tell them ‘no’ when they combined forces.

“Hmmmm…” Steve murmured, bringing a hand to his chin as he pretended to think. He hoped it would distract from the flush on his cheeks and the way he couldn’t help but grin goofily. They were adorable, and they wanted him to **stay**. “Tell you what? I’ll stay for dinner if you tell me your name.”

“Melinda!” she crowed eagerly, leaning towards him from her perch in Tony’s arms. “’M Melinda Keener, and that’s my brother Harley. He’s the best brother ever, Mister ‘Merica, even if he’s sad right now. Mommy’s sick.” Suddenly the light in her face died, and Steve felt his heart break; he’d do anything to bring it back. Tony seemed to feel the same, because he instantly hugged her tight again, cuddling her close and running a hand down her brown braid of hair. 

“I heard, sweetie,” Steve answered quietly, finally crossing over to the small group and their pile of luggage on bare feet. “It’s okay that Harley’s sad – you’re a good sister for noticing. It’s okay if you’re sad too. It’s scary, when moms are sick.” Melinda was nodding in agreement, tears gathering in her eyes; Harley was scowling and scuffing the toes of his left sneaker over the floor. “But Tony found some doctors who are gonna take care of her, and he’s gonna take care of you two. So I hope you won’t be too sad or scared while you’re here. If you are, you can always tell me, okay? I’ll do what I can to make it better.” Melinda sniffled and gave him the sweetest smile as she nodded again, clearly accepting him as someone to turn too. Her brother… her brother was a different story.

“Can I see my room now?” Harley asked softly, refusing to look at either Steve or Tony. Without missing a beat, the genius took his hand from Melinda’s hair and reached for the boy’s shoulder instead. Steve expected him to shrug or push it off, possibly while delivering a few heated and choice words. He seemed understandably angry and unsettled, and Steve was sure his mood had the potential to be explosive. Tony always seemed to make people explode – even the most even-tempered of people – with ill-thought out gestures. It wasn’t that he was trying to upset them, he just never seemed good at giving others what they needed in the moment. Steve, for example, wouldn’t have tried to touch Harley just then, because his posture and the look on his face was _screaming_ to leave him alone. Braced for the worst, Steve was absolutely stunned by what happened instead.

There was no explosion, no cutting words, no attempt to shove Tony away. No, Harley went almost boneless, leaning into the touch without hesitation. He let Tony reel him in until he was leaning heavily against the man’s side, then even turned his head to hide his face in the genius’ shoulder. Melinda leaned down to rest her head on top of Harley’s, her arms draping over his shoulders as she offered him comfort and probably received quite a bit of it in return. To complete that perfect picture, Tony bent and pressed his lips to Melinda’s head, closing his eyes and seeming to soak in their presence. It was another scene that burned itself into Steve’s brain, one that he was already itching to put down on paper so it was captured forever.

Once again, he felt his opinion of Tony shifting slightly. Maybe Tony was better at reading people than Steve had thought – he’d obviously known exactly what Harley needed. There was a connection there, a relationship that he wouldn’t have thought Tony capable of only a day before; it was a bond that just as clearly existed between the genius and the younger Keener as well. So he’d been wrong – Tony was perfectly able to let people who weren’t Ms. Potts or Colonel Rhodes get close to him. Now he was left wondering why it hadn’t been him – or anyone else on the team, of course.

Why hadn’t Tony let him – them – in?

It wasn’t the time to ask or even really let himself think about it, so Steve pushed the thought away. Just like the flutters and shivers and yearnings he experienced around Tony, the question tucked itself away neatly enough when he forced it to, but it didn’t _really_ leave. It just hid to let Steve move on, to let him keep living his life almost normally. So when Melinda lifted her head and Harley turned away to wipe covertly at his eyes, Steve could send them all a warm smile before clearing his throat.

“Let’s get you both to your rooms so you can settle in a bit before dinner. Can you manage your stuff, Harley? I can get your sister’s.”

“Yeah. Make sure she unpacks Iron Tsum right away,” he told Steve sagely as he shouldered his duffle bag and ignored his sister’s betrayed look. “Because if you don’t, she’ll forget until she’s getting ready for bed, and it’ll be a nightmare. Do you _want_ to forget to unpack him, Melly?”

“Nooooo…” the girl admitted slowly as Tony lowered her to the floor. She was so stinking cute that Steve had to hide a smile as he stooped over to grab he suitcases. “He’s prolly ready to get outta the dark now too. Yeah. Let’s go, Mister Steve ‘Merica.” There was absolute authority in her voice as she reached out and took hold of his wrist. “We gotta show Harley to his room, then go to mine and unpack Iron Tsum and put some of my clothes ‘way, and then we’re gonna have eggs!”

Despite having no idea where they were going, Melinda was walking and towing Steve along with her… and he had no choice but to follow, trying and failing not to grin.

~.~.~

Tony did make really good eggs – _another_ thing Steve hadn’t known about him.

Harley hadn’t said much when shown his room, but he _had_ directed a tired smile Steve’s way. Later, maybe in a day or so, he’d ask if the teen wanted to change anything, and what color he’d like the walls to be. For the night though, he just left it – Harley was clearly struggling.

Melinda, however, had babbled happily and effusively about her new room since opening the door. She’d thanked Steve continuously while they searched for her Iron Tsum plush, then spent a good half an hour exclaiming over her new toys – well, most of them, anyway. Now, halfway through dinner, with Iron Tsum (who was adorable, and Steve wanted one for himself) tucked securely in her lap, she’d changed the possible design for her wall six times and told Tony and her brother about most of her toys. But… well. Steve was a little confused, maybe even worried, because she hadn’t mentioned the multitude of the one toy that had topped every Christmas and birthday list Tony had on record.

“Did you see the Lego sets?” he asked during one of her rare chewing breaks, striving for a casual tone of voice and failing spectacularly. Confirming his sense that something was wrong, the girl immediately went still and quiet; the concern coloring Tony and Harley’s expressions only upped his own.

“Mmm. Um, Mister ‘Merica,” _Steve_ , he wanted to correct – again – but didn’t. “I’m… I don’t like Legos no more. You should give ‘em to somebody else. A boy maybe.”

“Excuse me, Pell-Mell, but since when do _you_ not like Legos?” Tony asked before Steve could rush to assure her it was fine if her interests had changed. When the girl only shrugged and began to silently toy with her fork, Tony arched a brow, frown deepening. “And why would we give your Legos to a _boy_?” Now Harley looked angry, as if he’d reached a conclusion Steve hadn’t yet arrived at, and it was one he didn’t like. Melinda shrugged her shoulders again, peeked up at Tony, then hung her head in shame.

It cracked something inside of him to see her like that, like she questioned her own worth – she was only seven, for fuck’s sake. Steve vowed swift and terrible retribution for anyone who might have contributed to the formation of that awful expression on her face.

“Legos are for boys,” she reported unhappily, shoulders hunching even further. “Not girls. We don’t got good ideas for building, and our hands aren’t as good for it either. B’sides, my friend Linda says we should be playing house, not building stuff.” Halfway through her explanation, Steve felt his fork bend from the force of his grip, and Harley’s expression had become downright murderous. Who the **hell** had made the adorable, clever Melinda believe that girls weren’t supposed to _build things_ or even _play with Legos_? He darted a disbelieving look at Tony, expecting the genius to be just as furious as he and Harley were. To his surprise, the man looked only mildly irritated and amused, giving a dismissive snort as he waved his fork in the air.

“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” he told her firmly, reaching out with his free hand to gently tug on her braid. “Girls are awesome at building things, and I should know that. Half of R&D at Stark Industries is made up of females, my darling tater-tot. Quite a few of them are project leads, or have been before. They’re brilliant, and I would be lost without them, and they all played with Legos. They’re still girls, so _obviously_ girls can play with Legos and build spectacular things.” Melinda had brightened again, snuggling Iron Tsum and looking at Tony like he was offering her the world. “Here’s the most important thing – do you like Legos, Pell-Mell?”

“Mmm! And painting, and computers, and playing with dolls, and… and… lotsa stuff!”

Then you play with Legos and computers with me, and Harley will play dolls with you, and you can paint with Steve. Anything else you enjoy, we’ll find someone for you to do that with too. Don’t care what it is, or if it’s ‘supposed to be’ for boys or girls. You do what _you_ enjoy. Do that, and I’ll bring you to R &D to meet my team of rockin’ girl builders. Deal?”

“Deal!” Melinda was squirming with excitement, absolutely beaming at Tony; Steve imagined his face was doing something similar. Because now that the girl was happy again, he could see the anger simmering below the surface. Whoever had put those ideas in the girl’s mind was going to be very, very sorry – he hadn’t been dismissing that part of it. He’d just prioritized Melinda’s happiness above vengeance, and it really wasn’t fair how much more attractive being around children made him.

“Why do _I_ have to be the one to play dolls with her?”

“Because you’re the bestest big brother ever!” Steve smothered a laugh behind one hand at the conflicted look on Harley’s face. He clearly loved being thought of as the best big brother… but the idea of playing dolls with her absolutely the last way he wanted to earn the title. Tony didn’t bother to try, just started laughing loudly, and soon they were all doing the same (or giggling, in the case of one Melly-belly) and it was… it was nice. It was warm and bright, and Steve found himself desperately hoping that he’d be invited to eat dinner with them again, or that he’d be allowed to just be around the three of them whenever possible.

Even if it kept forcing him to realize how little he really knew about Tony.

~.~~

Before he headed down to his own floor, Steve briefly pulled Harley aside, offering him the warmest smile he could manage. The teen just looked so angry and hurt and scared… he couldn’t walk away without trying to offer him _something_. Not when he’d already made plans to have ‘art time’ with Melinda. He wanted to bond with the teen as well.

“Hey. I know you’ll be working with Tony in his workshop a lot when you aren’t with your mom, but, ah…” The teen looked utterly unimpressed with him, watching Steve with an arched brow he _had_ to have learned from Tony. “I go running. In the morning.” He blurted, unaccountably nervous. “If you ever want to join in, you can. And, uh, you’re always welcome in the gym. You know, to hit the heavy bag after someone shows you how to do it safely. Or I could teach you a few things, spar with you a bit. It’s a good way to work off steam. If you ever get antsy. You can always come find me, and we can. You know. Work out.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Okay, so he didn’t exactly sound excited, but there was definitely a small glimmer of interest in his eyes. Usually kids _begged_ to train with him, but Harley Keener was going to make him work for a connection. “I’ll let you know. See you around, Cap.”

Steve felt a little at a loss as he watched the teen walk away, floundering in a way he wasn’t used to doing. Sure, he was hopeless with most women and babies, but older kids and teenagers were never a problem – they adored Captain America, and he delighted in getting to interact with them. He consoled himself with the notion that Harley – and Melinda – were Iron Man fans first and foremost. Captain America would never be quite as impressive in their eyes, so he’d have to try a little harder than he usually did. That was fine – he never shirked from a challenge, after all.

“He’s hurting,” Tony murmured from behind him, breath moving over his neck and making him shiver. “He’s usually a lot friendlier. He’ll come around.”

“I know.” As he spoke, Steve turned to face his friend, smiling wryly. “I remember being about that age when _my_ ma got sick. It’s… it was hard.”

“Yeah. Thanks, by the way. For everything – the place looks great, and you didn’t have to… I didn’t even _think_ about the fucking living room, you know? But you have it all… kid friendly and shit. Fuck. I can’t do this Steve. I can’t-”

“Woah there,” Steve interrupted, feeling his eyes go wide at the sudden panic in Tony’s voice. Stepping forward, he put his hands on Tony’s shoulders to deliver a reassuring squeeze. “You _can_ Tony. You absolutely can. I mean… you were so great with them. I could tell how much you care, and I’m sure they know it too. That’s the most important part with kids.” Tony was nodding at that, a grim look on his face – Steve _almost_ asked about Howard, but thought better of it just before the words escaped. That would be a sure-fire way to make this into a **terrible** day, and there was no way in hell he was going to expose the kids to that.

He could have pulled his hands away – should have even, but…. That wasn’t what he wanted, so he didn’t. Instead, he gave another squeeze, then started to rub his thumbs in small, firm circles to deliver a massage of sorts. Some of the tension left Tony’s body, and the anxiety in his expression was lessoning with every press of Steve’s hands. He knew his smile was maybe a little too warm, a little too affectionate as he stared into Tony’s eyes, but he couldn’t help it. Not after what he’d seen of the man since the arrival of the Keeners.

“You’ll take care of them while their mother recovers, and you’ll do a great job of it. And you have my full support, Tony. Whatever you need. I mean – all the Avengers will help, not just me.” He clarified, feeling himself flush. “So you’ll be fine. We’ll help you get through this, and you’re going to do great with them.”

For long moments, they stayed in that same pose, gazes locked. Steve felt something almost unbearably tender take root in his chest, and _God_ he didn’t know if he could lock it away with all the rest of the feelings Tony stirred in him. Maybe he didn’t have to – maybe he could let it stay and even grow. He could lean forward and kiss Tony, if he wanted, or just wrap his arms around the genius and never, ever let go. He could-

“TONY! Iron Tsum fell inna tub! Too many bubbles! He can’t swim! Heeeeeeelp!”

Melinda’s (adorable) call of distress broke the tableaux completely. Steve almost ran to her aid himself, but Tony put a restraining hand on his chest.

“I’ll take this one, Cap. Go get some rest – you earned it.” Before he could even begin to formulate a response, Tony leaned up and in… and kissed his cheek. It was nothing – just a brief press of soft lips and the lightest tickled of facial hair against his skin – but it changed _everything_ , at least for Steve.

From the slight flush in Tony’s cheeks as he turned away, Steve thought – hoped, prayed – that he wasn’t alone in that feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just... picture Tony buying Harley an Iron Man tsum tsum plush as a joke, and Melinda appropriating it with extreme swiftness. Now it's HERS and he's BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT and PROTECTS HER FROM THE BAD THINGS just like Iron Tony would! 
> 
> And Steve is uber jealous that she has one and he doesn't, and she notices at some point and ends up getting him one for Mister 'Merica's birthday.
> 
> I dunno. XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs. Keener is getting sicker, and Steve finds himself stepping in more and more to make sure the Keener kids always have someone there for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So five chapters is not going to be enough - I think (hope) six will be enough. Maybe? God, I don't know.
> 
> I'm terribly long winded. ;.;
> 
> I _live_ for dad!Tony, but honestly this chapter mostly focuses on dad!Steve... hope that doesn't put any of you off! Next chapter will be more between Tony and the kids and Steve and Tony. Also, please read the tags because sad things are coming, yeah? Just, you know, so you're ready when it happens and carry no false hopes. XD
> 
> Comments maybe? Please and thank you? <3

Mrs. Keener always looked so _small_ when Steve visited her in medical. Small and sad and tired, but also radiating a beauty that frightened him because it was so ephemeral. His mother had been beautiful like that at the end, and now Peggy was too. It was the kind of beauty that couldn’t last, and Steve was afraid it was too late to save her.

Sometimes, in the melancholic curve of her smile and the ache in her eyes as she watched her children, Steve could tell that she knew it too.

He didn’t visit her as often as he wanted, telling himself that this wasn’t his family and he shouldn’t intrude too much. But he made sure she had fresh flowers delivered to her room daily to brighten the space, and created several pieces of artwork of her and the children that she could have hung on the walls. When he did visit, it was always when Harley or Melinda were there as well. Often both kids were present along with Tony – the three practically lived on the medical floor when the doctors would allow it. The genius would tell stories or demonstrate new toys and tech, doing his best to keep the mood cheerful and optimistic. It kept the kids occupied as well, which Steve could tell Mrs. Keener found to be a godsend. Those days were much better than the times when the woman was so weak and tired that she could barely open her eyes.

Steve saw the toll it took on his friend, and more than once watched him collapse against a wall once the kids were no longer watching him. He caught glimpses of a new kind of exhaustion in Tony’s eyes, saw sorrow, fear and determination chase each other across his face. He knew, the same way Steve and Mrs. Keener knew; he was less accepting of the truth. More than once Friday called him down to medical so he could gently extract Tony from arguments with Mrs. Keener’s doctors – Tony wanted them to do more, work harder, find a miracle… and he was _very_ vocal about it. Steve was always called to intervene before anything unforgivable was said by either side, thankfully, and the arguments gave him an excuse to focus on pampering Tony, if only for an hour or two until he got his temper under control.

So all the adults knew, with a sinking sort of certainty, that it was only a matter of time. For the most part, they resolutely refused to discuss that fact.

Except once, when Harley, Melinda and Iron Tsum were all deeply involved in ‘helping’ Tony set up a demonstration for their mother. Mrs. Keener had reached out and taken Steve’s hand, squeezing with more strength than her withering body should have been able to muster. Her kind eyes held just a hint of steely determination, and her lips were set in a firm line that trembled just a little.

“Take care of ‘em,” she whispered, voice so soft that only Steve could hear her, and he had to lean further into her space to do it. “When it’s over, you take care of them, Steve. They’ll be hurtin’ somethin’ fierce. They’ll all need you, all three of ‘em, so you look after them once I can’t.”

“Yes ma’am.” It had been the only possible answer, and he’d only just managed to choke it out around the emotion tightening his throat. The dying woman flashed him the most angelic smile Steve had ever seen (apart from his ma’s, of course) and gave his hand another squeeze. Then, as if nothing had happened, she shifted her attention to the people she’d just asked him to look after. With utter ease and grace, she inserted herself into their jokes and laughter – he envied her ability to do so.

Steve had to excuse himself so he could cry in private instead.

~.~.~

Melinda Keener had very quickly become a central part of life in the tower for almost every single Avenger. She was like a physical embodiment of sunshine, and Steve didn’t think it was possible not to gravitate to the precious little girl. By the third day, she was trailing him like a duckling whenever she got bored in the ‘shop and too squirrely to sit with her mother. Five days into her stay at the tower, Clint had become her new favorite to play dolls with – he had an impressive range of voices, and was completely unembarrassed to use them to act out the various scenarios the girl threw at him.

Thor visited once to let them know things might soon become dire in Asgard, so he was away for the foreseeable future. Despite his grim – for him – mood and his restless energy, he allowed Melinda to rope him into a tea party before he left. The god had looked splendid draped in plastic jewelry, with a tiny tiara perched on his head; it was clear that he was absolutely smitten with the little girl, and was most reluctant to bid her farewell. Vision spent hours patiently answering her relentless questions, never once expressing any annoyance or frustration. Wanda was able to push aside her animosity for Tony whenever Melinda asked to paint her nails or play with her hair; the pair shared a love of Disney movies, and would give each other makeovers as they watched. The first few times, Steve had chaperoned them nervously, hoping Wanda wouldn’t speak poorly of Tony around the little spit-fire who adored him. After a week that was incident free, he mostly left them to their own devices. With Sam Melinda baked, stirring ingredients with careful concentration. Once they were done, the man would don his wings and fly her all over the tower to deliver the sweets to the others.

Rhodes enjoyed Legos almost as much as she did, so most of her sets migrated down to the lesser-used second living room on the common floor. There, the pair constructed miniature marvels, and woe betide anyone who touched without their express permission. They also had several incomplete puzzles laid out on the long table at any one time – anyone could work on those so long as they didn’t put the final piece in place without Miss Melinda there to excitedly supervise.

Nat was harder nut to crack, and for the first three weeks she had almost nothing to do with either Keener child. Sure, she was polite enough if she came across them, but she didn’t seek to bond or even make them like her. Steve could understand that, for the most part. Of all the Avengers, she’d always had the hardest time relating to their younger fans. She tried her best, and could manage to hold it together for meet-and-greets… but this situation was _so_ different from those short events. It left her grasping at straws, uncertain of herself in a way Steve was sure she almost never was. The Widow _hated_ feeling incompetent, so she avoided the source of the feeling when she could.

Things between the oldest and youngest females in the tower improved only when Melinda – wearing her most solemn, serious expression and her plush toy clutched to her chest – informed Nat that Iron Tsum wanted to learn how to dance. Would Natasha mind teaching them both, so Iron Tsum wouldn’t be lonely while he learned? At the innocent question, everyone else in the room had gone tense, waiting for the woman’s reaction. Dancing was so intrinsically linked to her past, and the request might be too much like poking a bear… but nothing awful happened. Nat didn’t explode or evade, just leaned down and told the little girl it would be her pleasure; Steve saw the truth of that in her eyes, and so dance lessons were promptly added to the schedule.

Once Tony had to get back to work, that schedule became far more complicated. Steve found himself stepping up to manage it, as well as filling the hours Tony’s absence left empty as best he could. He, Mrs. Keener and Tony worked together to make sure both kids had time to do things they liked, some time alone and also had a bit of structure to keep them grounded. As her health declined, visiting hours were more limited; that meant more time that the kids needed to be kept occupied. Melinda was too excited to be able to try new things and visit fun new places to question why she couldn’t drop in on her mom whenever she wanted. Even when introduced to her new tutor, she’ d been no less than thrilled.

“I love learnin’ stuff!” she crowed to Steve, bouncing so hard that Iron Tsum went flying. She cheered when he caught the plush, and even allowed him a moment to snuggle it as she continued. “Learnin’s the best, and I wanna learn everything about _everything_! How long do you think that’ll take, Mr. ‘Merica?”

The nickname had stuck, but Steve didn’t mind that so much anymore. Not when he’d realized that she only _really_ gave fond little titles to her favorites – not counting Harley or Tony, because they were family. ‘Iron Tsum’, ‘Mr. ‘Merica’ and ‘Clinty Bird’ were the only ones in regular use, so hearing his nickname on her lips actually made him feel pretty warm inside. Especially once he learned he’d gotten his title so quickly because he had a starring role in all her favorite stories she’d been told by Tony before meeting him.

“Everything about everything, hmm? I think that might take a lifetime, Miss Melly-belly.”

“So I gets to learn stuff for my _whole life_?” Where most people might have sounded daunted or disgusted by the prospect, her voice was filled of pure, unadulterated awe. “That’s so cool! We gotta start now though, or I’mma fall behind. Gimme Iron Tsum so we can go learn together!” As soon as she had her toy back in the safety of her arms she was off, pulling her amused tutor along behind her.

She was… amazing, really. Steve had never seen someone so determined to try anything and everything life had to offer. And if she enjoyed doing something, she kept right on doing it even when she was terrible at the execution. The girl would probably never have a future as an artist, but still threw herself wholeheartedly into ‘art time’ with Steve. She cheerfully lost at every card game she liked to play, tripped over herself constantly during dance lessons, and worked her way through her favorite books with difficulty and a bright smile on her face. She just loved to be doing things, experimenting and learning who she was and what her passions were.

So it was easy to keep her schedule full and interesting enough to distract her. Every night when they sat down to dinner – the four of them all together almost every time, something that had started as an accident quickly becoming the norm – she was bursting with stories about her day. She was too young, happy, and _busy_ to really realize how much sicker her mom was getting.

Harley… Harley was a different story altogether.

~.~.~

“This is _bullshit_.”

“ **Language**.”

“You’re not my dad. I don’t have to do anything you tell me.”

“I may not be your father, young man, but your mother is trusting me to look out for you when she and Tony can’t. So I need you to work with me here, alright? Talk to me buddy, please. Help me understand why you did what you did.”

Only a teenager could pout so hard and yet look so murderous at the same time, Steve was sure of it. The pitiful, mutinous expression had him fighting a smile… until Harley snarled and kicked out with his left foot. He caught the seat of the chair next to the one he was slouched in, just like he’d meant to. And of course the expensive piece of furniture went flying, and _of course_ it slammed into a decorative end table with an expensive trinket perched on top of it. Steve could only watch, resigned, as a beautiful crystal vase full of sunflowers crashed to the ground and shattered.

He tried very, very hard not to think of how much money Tony’d paid for the broken piece of art. Probably enough to pay the rent of every single person living on the whole goddamn _block_ he’d grown up on for at least a year. But he wasn’t going to think about that, nope.

Harley still looked shocked, regretful and maybe even a little afraid when Steve first glanced back at him. As soon as the teen _knew_ he was looking though, his face set into a hard, defiant scowl. The boy was radiating anger and pain, and Steve found himself fighting the urge to just sweep the boy up into a tight hug. He could offer comfort in a little bit, if Harley would let him; first he had to address these surges in temper. No matter how badly he was hurting, he couldn’t just… lash out like he’d been doing the past few days.

“I don’t want to leave that glass,” _very expensive crystal_ , part of his mind babbled hysterically, “on the floor where your sister could step in it and hurt herself. I’d like your help to clean it up, please.”

God, he hated the contest of wills going on between them at the moment, but it had to happen. Steve kept his face calm and his body language open, not wanting to make the kid any more defensive than he already was. Harley was glaring, his fists clenching and unclenching as his face went blotchy with anger. For a long, long time, they just stared at each other… but finally, the teen hurled himself out of his chair and stalked toward the storage cupboard where there was a broom. Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Steve dragged one palm over his face, praying for patience.

They cleaned up the mess in strained silence, both knowing their previous conversation wasn’t over by a longshot. Steve thought maybe he should just leave it, let Mrs. Keener or Tony handle it… but they were both so _tired_ , and all this had happened on his watch. If he was going to keep being the go-to secondary caretaker, he needed to figure out how to handle Harley’s mood swings. Once the last of the shattered crystal had been dumped into the garbage, Steve firmly pointed to the chair the teen had been occupying and waited. This time, their eyes clashed for a much shorter period of time before Harley gave in and sat down.

“When my ma got sick, I was so _angry_ ,” he reminisced softly, ignoring the look of surprise Harley sent him. “She was the sweetest woman to ever grace this earth, and she worked so hard to make sure I had what I needed. I was sickly, see, and we were dirt poor. Without my da to help bring in money… well. Anyway, she was a nurse, and to keep me in medicine and food she worked herself to the bone, taking care of me and everyone in her ward. She was kind, and loving, and sweet. I loved her so much – everyone loved Sarah Rogers. She still got sick, and I was so _angry_ because it wasn’t fair. I was angriest at myself, I think. If I wasn’t so weak, she wouldn’t-a had to work so much, and she wouldn’t-a got sick’n died. I was mad because it was easier’n being scared.” Pausing, he met Harley’s eyes, trying and failing to smile – it was a twitch of the lips more than anything else. “Thing is, I was still scared and hurt. Bein’ angry, gettin’ inta fights the way I did… that didn’t make the other stuff go away. It was still there, and it only made me angrier. Took me almost dyin’ myself and Buck yellin’ at my stupid face for it before I stopped focusing so hard on being angry.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“I know.”

“She’s my sister, and I love her.”

“I know.”

“I just… she started talking about going on vacation with mom next summer, and… and…” Harley’s voice was rough with the tears that were gathering in his eyes, and Steve’s heart hurt for him. “Mom’s not gonna be here then, is she?”

“… I don’t think so, Harley. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Not her fault she’s too little to understand. I just… I just got so _mad_ for a minute. I didn’t mean to smack her.”

“I know, and so does she. Now we need to figure out how we can keep it from happening again.”

“I don’t wanna be like my dad, Steve.”

Space and discipline be _damned_ ; Steve was kneeling by the chair with his arms wrapped around the teen in the blink of an eye. Harley hugged him back fiercely, holding on with all his strength, Steve’s shirt balled up in his fists. He could feel dampness seeping through the material on his shoulder, but he chose not to mention it just then – he didn’t want the teen retreating out of embarrassment when he so clearly needed comfort. The hug was good for Steve as well, letting him focus on the fact that the boy was right there, safe and whole. The thought of anyone hurting the teen was almost enough to send Steve into a rage; that it had been the boy’s own _father_ made him want to rip something apart with his bare hands. And the utter heartbreak and fear in Harley’s voice at that quiet admission… it cut at him deeply.

“You won’t be.” Steve vowed quietly, running a soothing hand down the teen’s back. “You’re _not_ , Harley. Anger is fine, healthy even when you handle it right. Your dad and my da weren’t so good at that part,” Howard hadn’t been either by the time Tony was born, he was pretty sure, but that wasn’t his story to tell. “But me’n you are gonna do better for the people we love. Being mad is easy – doing something _productive_ with the feeling is hard. We’ll figure out what works for you, okay? Because you aren’t him, Harley Keener.” Turning his head, Steve pressed a kiss to the boy’s temple, not questioning or second-guessing the urge to do so. “You’re a good kid, and you’re gonna be a good man in a couple-a years.”

“How do you know?” Harley was still hanging on to him for dear life, but he’d stopped shaking at least, and the damp patch on Steve’s shoulder didn’t seem to be growing any further. His voice was so small, and Steve could tell that he desperately needed some kind of reassurance.

“Well, I’m Captain America.” There was a snort of laughter at that, which Steve counted as a victory even though it didn’t last very long. “Captain America knows these things. Beyond that… we’re a lot alike, you’n me. Not when it comes to smarts – there you got me beat. A lot of the other stuff is pretty similar though. I think I’m a pretty good guy when it comes right down to it, so you’ve got to be a pretty good one too, right?”

“That’s the stupidest logic ever.”

“Captain America scoffs in the face of logic, Harley.”

“Oh my god.”

Grinning, he lifted one hand to ruffle Harley’s hair, then gently pulled away. He carefully wiped the tear-tracks staining the teen’s cheeks with one thumb, studying him as he did. They really did have a lot in common, but he saw so much of Tony in him too. It was strange, to find himself in a boy he was in no way related to, and even stranger to think that if he and Tony ever had a kid- but no. Down that path lay only pain, and he needed to focus on Harley. “I’d like it if you’d let me talk to your mom and Tony about finding _you_ someone to talk to-”

“I don’t need a shrink.”

“Why not? I have one.”

“… does it help?”

“… sometimes.” Steve answered awkwardly, shrugging one shoulder. “It’s… it’s nice to know that I _can_ talk to her, and that she’s there if I ever need some support. She’s given me a lot of good suggestions since I started seeing her. Would you be willing to try it?”

“Yeah. I guess. If I have to.”

“You don’t. But I think it might help.”

“Fine.”

“Until then… are you ready to apologize to your sister, or are you still too angry?”

“… ‘m angry still.”

“Okay. I think you should apologize before the day is over though, okay?”

“Yeah. I will.”

“Good. Now go throw on a t-shirt you don’t mind getting dirty and a pair of basketball shorts.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we’re going down to the gym, and I’m going to teach you how to tape up your knuckles and hit the heavy bag. We’ll see if that helps, or if it makes you more mad – could go either way.”

“If I get madder?”

“We’ll go running.”

“… do I have to?”

“Yup.”

“… fiiiiine.” With great reluctance, Harley stood and headed for his room, only to pause just before disappearing from view. “Hey Steve?”

“What’s up kiddo?”

“Thanks. For you know. Everything. I guess maybe you aren’t so bad.” With that ringing endorsement he left, and Steve felt a surge of affection that warmed him from the inside out. Pulling himself up, he stood and stretched… then yelped when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.

“You aren’t bad at all, Cap.” Tony told him quietly, his face hidden in the back of Steve’s neck. “Fuck, that was… you did good with him, Steve. Real good.”

“You coulda helped, Tony, if you were here.”

“And fuck everything up? No way. You had that handled, Steve.”

“Well you wouldn’t have fucked anything up if you’d joined the conversation, for future reference.”

“Yes I would have.” Rolling his eyes, Steve hesitated a moment before resting his hands lightly on Tony’s arms, feeling warm skin beneath his palms. “I’m gonna find that son-of-a-bitch, Steve. I’m gonna find him and if he’s still alive I’m going to destroy him.”

“Tony-”

“No. Nope. Already decided. I’m going to ruin his fucking life, because I am _not_ better than my father.” A bitter laugh escaped the genius, making Steve shiver as air puffed over the back of his neck. “Funny, isn’t it, how we all got royally fucked over in the dad department?” Maybe he wanted a bit of space, or maybe he’d realized how… intimate the position was; either way, Tony pulled away from him, leaving Steve feeling cold. He hated the cold.

Turning to face the genius, Steve ran a hand through his hair, searching for the right words. He didn’t find them before Tony’s expression shifted, going from something sharp and hard into a tired, resigned look. “Sorry Steve. Ignore me, alright? It’s just been a long day.”

“I don’t think I could ever ignore _you_ , Tony Stark.” Steve had meant the line to come out as funny and snarky, a playful reminder of how much presence and charisma his friend had and how he _demanded_ attention. Instead, the words were soft and nearly reverent; Steve felt his eyes go wide and a blush rise to his cheeks even as Tony mirrored the expression. “I… uh. I mean. No one could. You’re, you know. All… all flashy. Um.”

“Are you two going to flirt awkwardly all day, or are you going to teach me how to hit things?”

Harley’s breezy accusation made Steve’s blush ratchet up several notches, and he jumped back, away from Tony, even though they’d been doing nothing wrong. They hadn’t even been touching when Harley left his room, for God’s sake!

And how did everyone keep managing to sneak up on him?

Tony was lightly scolding the teen as he headed for the elevator, but Steve wasn’t really listening to the words. He was too busy trying to get himself back under control, because this was ridiculous. He and Tony weren’t _flirting_ , not any more than they usually did, and that was never serious. So Harley – the mischievous little punk – was obviously just trying to get their goats. He just needed to not let it work. Fine. Simple. Easy.

He met the teen’s eyes, and had to watch as his lips curved into a tiny, knowing smirk.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My canon compliance is sort of hit and miss here, and I accept that. Just to kind of clarify in case anyone else is confused. XD 
> 
> Basically the compound is not a thing - the Avengers still live in the tower. Tony, Steve, Nat, Clint, Wanda, Sam, Vision and Rhodey all live there at least part time. Clint never retired from team; Tony kind of retired but once he and Pepper broke things off he came back. After Ultron was defeated, Steve and Tony realized they needed to work some of their shit out, and put in the time and effort to do so; Steve told Tony that Bucky is alive and asked for help finding him. Not yet decided if he told the truth about his parents or if that still needs to come out - suggestions? The pair of them sometimes still have really shitty days, but they're trying to keep those to a minimum. The team isn't exactly a family, but they are supportive of each other and probably could be called friends.
> 
> If you have any questions or comments or concerns, please let me know! I like talking through things and answering questions - it makes me think about what I'm writing from a different angle, and helps me improve on things going forward. So yeah - here or on my [Tumblr](http://tahlreth.tumblr.com/) would be awesome.
> 
> Love ya all! <333


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hng. Not sure I'm happy with the ending on this chapter, but I've been driving myself crazy fiddling with it all day, soooo... yeah. XD Two more chapters to go!
> 
> Next up on my 'to do' list is Early Morning Calls, and then some of my Tony/Bucky stuff. Once that's done, I really, really need to start my Stony Bingo stuff. XD
> 
> Comments please and thank you? :D

“IRON TSUM HAS’SA COME!”

That… did not bode well for the trip he and Tony had planned for the kids. Steve still had more trouble handling Harley, but he’d grown a healthy respect for Miss Melinda’s tantrums. They were a rare but powerful event – rare for him to witness, anyway, because he often wasn’t around first thing in the morning or right before bedtime. Those, he’d learned through hearsay, were prime tantrum times. As he heard the little girl continue to shriek, he was amazed that Tony usually handled them all on his own.

By the time he got into the kitchen (sunscreen in hand because Tony _never_ remembered it), the little girl was on the floor wailing her distress to the heavens. Crocodile tears poured down her red cheeks and Tony looked about ready to cry himself. Harley, perched on one of the barstools at the island counter, had earphones in and his shoulders hitched up. The poor kid was clearly trying and failing to ignore what was happening around him.

“Hey Steve.” God, Tony sounded exhausted and it was barely eight AM. Not the ‘been up for sixteen hours inventing’ tired either, but something bone-deep and just a little sad. “Sorry we’re not ready like I promised we would be. We were almost there, and then-” Melinda, furious at being ignored, let out a screech of incoherent rage. All three males flinched, but then Tony firmed his jaw and doggedly refused to otherwise acknowledge the noise or the girl making it. “Then I suggested that Iron Tsum should stay home so he doesn’t get lost.”

“I see that went over well.”

“Very funny, Steven.” The rebuke wasn’t even particularly pointed, which made him feel worse about the gentle tease. He offered Tony a contrite smile, which the man returned tiredly. “Do you want some coffee while I deal with this? There’s some left in the pot.”

“Sure. That’d be… that’d be great.” It felt strange to be chatting while there was a screaming child writhing on the floor, but he thought following Tony’s lead on this was probably the best way to go. He was way better at handling Harley’s form of acting out – he wasn’t ashamed to cede the field to someone with more experience. Looking to Harley, he realized that the teen might not be listening to any music after all, because he was up and on his feet, heading for the coffee pot before Steve had even started moving.

As he watched Harley fix him a cup, he felt a surge of warm affection for the boy. It was enough to quell his worry about the ‘Melly Meltdown’, and let him mostly ignore both her and Tony as the other man gently (but firmly) got her to her feet. When she went boneless, threatening silently to drop to the floor again, he watched Tony scoop her up from the corner of his eye. By the time he’d taken a seat on one of the barstools, both man and girl were out of sight… but sadly not out of his hearing range.

“Great day to have super-senses, I bet,” Harley quipped as he delivered the coffee. His earbuds were around his neck, and Steve could just make out a few faint strains of music coming from them. So maybe the kid was learning to read lips from Clint? He needed to investigate that pronto, because the possibilities were sort of terrifying. “I can still hear her and my ears are regular. You like two sugars, no cream right?”

“That’s my drink,” he agreed with an easy grin, fondness swimming though his veins again. “And I’d trade half my strength away for a pair of noise canceling headphones that actually worked for me. How long were Tony and Melly doing battle before I got here?” When he took a sip of coffee, it was perfect – Harley was definitely observant. The instant relief he got (despite caffeine not really working for him anymore) made him think of Tony and how tired he was. After another sip, he sighed and levered himself off the barstool, going to make another, much bigger cup of coffee. The genius would appreciate it, and he sort of owed the other man for not being around when it had all started.

“Maybe ten minutes or so. That’s about how long Tony will let her go before he moves her to a different room to help her calm down. He’ll be trying some breathing stuff with her now, and if that doesn’t work, she stays in her room until she’s ready to talk about it. Whole thing takes maybe forty-five minutes on a bad day.” Yeah, he needed to start being around either first thing in the morning or last thing at night, because _yeesh_. “They’re getting shorter though. Tony’s been real patient, and the method seems to be working, so…”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. He’s been watching a lot of Supernanny. Says it was SHIELD approved, so it’s good enough for him and Melly.”

“Does he remember that SHIELD was actually mostly Hydra? I’m not sure I’d want parenting advice approved by the them.”

“Eh. Even evil guys have to deal with unmanageable spawn, right? Her advice probably still holds up. Besides, she’s got a neat accent. Tony promised to take me to England sometime so I can learn how to do it too.”

Steve couldn’t help but snort as he stirred just a hint of sugar and quite a bit of cream into Tony’s coffee, because _of course_ that would be what the idiot promised from England – an accent. God the man was an adorable disaster. He’d have to look up a few museums or something else artistic for the trip. Tony could handle all the ‘fun’ and science, but Steve would make sure the kids got some culture out of it too. When he looked back to Harley, ready to threaten just that, he found himself pausing.

The teen had that _look_ in his eyes, like the one Tony got before he made toasters sentient or put rocket powered roller skates on one of his suits. He was tapping away on his phone, and was that… a credit card in his other hand? “Whatcha doin’ there kiddo?”

“Well, I really, really wanna go today.”

“Uh-huh,” he drawled, tone meaning ‘ _please continue telling me your crazy plan so I can get on with stopping it_ ’. It was a tone he used a lot with Tony.

“And my sister is really, really attached to Iron Tsum.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“And we… got some bad news about… about mom this morning. She’s… not doing so good.”

“Shit.” Fuck, he wasn’t supposed to say that in front of the kids. But God, what a way to start the day, and no wonder little Melinda was so upset. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry, Harley.”

“Yeah. Me too. But anyway, I still wanna go. It’s better than just… the doctor who came up to see Tony said we can’t visit her today anyway, so the zoo is… it’s better than having to just sit up here.”

“I get it, Harley,” Steve told him gently, reaching out to ruffle his hair; when the kid didn’t shrug him off or send him a dirty look, he knew it was going to be a good day between them. “You don’t have to explain or justify it to me. We’re going to go to the zoo, I promise, and we’re going to have fun. We’ll take a lot of pictures to show your mom the next time she’s allowed visitors. So it’s fine. I get it. What I don’t get and what I wanna know is what you’re doing on your phone.”

“I have an idea.”

“Are you going to share it?”

“Gimme a sec.”

Jesus Christ, he and Tony were going to do something completely insane, Steve was sure of it. They were going to give Iron Tsum a brain and a way to fly probably, and it would wreak havoc across the city, and the Avengers would be called in, and at the end of it all Tony would be standing in the rubble, looking apologetic but also sort of proud of his creation, and God Steve just wanted to go to the zoo. He needed to head this off at the pass – maybe they’d settle for putting a tracker or something in the thing. Because yeah, it was adorable and Steve was getting one for himself if he could just find the damn things in stock somewhere, but he definitely didn’t want it to be able to think. It would probably take after Tony who was, again, adorable and Steve wanted to keep him, but the world didn’t need another one. Two mad scientists (one thankfully still half-sized) were all the tower could handle. The last thing they needed was a plush toy who wanted to weld things – DUM-E would be the only one happy about that. So yeah. Soon as Tony got back from handling Melinda, Steve’d talk him and Harley down into a more sane alternative.

~.~.~

Two hours into their tour of the zoo, Steve sort of wished he’d made them give Iron Tsum a brain. He was used to being stared at and whispered about, sure, and even people taking pictures of him was no longer a foreign concept. It was just… he was used to it being because he was Captain America. People generally weren’t interested in plain old Steve Rogers, and if he gave ‘em a bit of a smile and a wave, they usually were content to go on their way. Hell, in New York City people were more than happy to ignore him more often than not when he was in his regular clothes.

When Steve Rogers went around with an Iron Man tsum tsum strapped to his chest in one of those ridiculous baby carriers? People sure as shit took an interest, and he hadn’t been so uncomfortable being the focus of attention since he first put on a pair of tights. 

People had been snapping pictures on their phones at record rates, or at least that was the way it felt to him. And the staring was less… reverent and a lot more judgmental than he was used to now, and he didn’t like it even a little bit. Tony had been cackling about all the pictures popping up on social media and tagging the ‘best’ ones (i.e. the most embarrassing) to the Avengers official accounts. Steve didn’t think he’d stopped blushing since he’d first put the stupid thing on, and it had all really grated on his nerves. He had no idea why _he’d_ been the one conned into carting Iron Tsum around.

Well, strike that – he did know. The reason was currently holding his hand, fingers sticky from an ice cream treat that had melted just a little too fast, cooing over the baby otters frolicking in the enclosure in front of them. Melly was in possession of a lethal set of puppy-dog eyes, and they’d made him fold faster than a cheap suit. Then she’d tacked on a heartfelt plea that had made him melt into a happy pile of goo, and yeah. He’d never had a chance.

He could still hear her: “Mister Steve ‘Merica, you just gotta hold onto him and keep him safe for me, you just gotta. Cap _always_ protects Iron Man, right? So you gotta. Please?” It would have taken a monster to tell her no after that. The way the plea had made Tony blush and start to babble had also been greatly appreciated… so maybe lugging the plush around like this wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

And Harley had finally, thankfully, dragged Tony away for some specially planned science _thing_ the genius had set up for the two of them. Steve didn’t know what they were doing and didn’t care to know – he was just glad to get a little space from his best friend for the moment. They hadn’t had a terrible day since the arrival of the Keeners, but Tony’s relentless teasing had been edging them close to one. Steve was too close to feeling like a dancing monkey to tolerate the genius’ playful jabs, so having a bit of room to breathe was incredibly helpful. Alone with Melinda, he felt some of that irritation draining away, and he forced himself to focus on her instead of wondering how many people were staring at him.

“They’re cute, aren’t they? What do you want to see next?”

“Shhh! You’ll scare the babies!”

Chuckling (quietly) Steve gave her hand a gentle squeeze and settled in to watch the tiny otters. She was completely entranced, and he decided he didn’t mind standing there with her for as long as she wanted. Even when it ended up being almost twenty minutes before she would even think of moving on, he didn’t really care. Not when the rest of his embarrassment and self-consciousness had fallen away in the face of her small giggles and the faces she pulled while watching the animals play. He’d do just about anything for her, he knew. When she _was_ finally ready to leave the otters in search of something new, she announced it in her typical dramatic fashion.

“Steve! Steve!” The ‘Mister’ and ‘’Merica’ were always dropped in public, and he always thought it was strange when he missed them. “I forgot ‘bout the seal show! Did we miss it? Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve,” she chanted as he dug out the zoo’s brochure to check – he’d forgotten about it too. “Steve, if we missed it I’ll just _die_. You can bury me here with the animals! With the otters Steve, kay? But only if we miss the seals!”

“I’d rather you come home with us either way. Me’n Tony would miss you, and so would your mom and brother. And Iron Tsum,” he added hastily, seeing her open her mouth in protest. “Iron Tsum would be very, very sad if you didn’t come home with us. Luckily, we didn’t miss the seal show. We do need to hurry though… want a ride?”

“Yeah!” Melinda whooped and giggled with delight as he swung her up onto his shoulders – her preferred method of transport. She loved being on either his or Tony’s, and would always happily accept a ride from either other them. It was so nice to hear her shrieking with laughter instead of rage, and he was glad the morning’s tantrum had turned into a distant, fading memory. Those sticky fingers of hers buried themselves in his hair for balance, and he couldn’t help but start laughing too.

There were a lot more stares and stolen pictures as he headed for the seal enclosure. Not only did Steve Rogers, Captain America, have a tsum tsum strapped to his chest, but also a laughing seven-year-old girl up on his shoulders. Steve decided not to pay them any mind. He was having fun with one of his kids, and everyone whispering about it could go fly a kite. And yeah, they weren’t _really_ his… but he wasn’t gonna waste time arguing with his heart about that. It was all he could do to keep from actively swooning over Tony, after all. He couldn’t possibly keep Melinda and Harley out too… especially when that wasn’t what he really wanted.

“Steve! We made it!” Melinda cheered as he jogged into the enclosure. That was true but also _loud_ … thankfully no one else in the echoey building seemed to care. Some of the other kids even broke out into supportive shouts of excitement and congratulations in turn. The parents who caught his eye only gave him commiserating smiles at his sheepish shrug.

Once Melinda was back on the ground, he let her sit in the front row while he stood back and pulled out the camera he’d been assigned. Iron Tsum hadn’t been enough responsibility – he was also expected to document at least part of their day. He figured this would probably be enough to keep Tony from looking disappointed in him. Especially since he was about 98% sure that Tony had a couple people following them and taking more professional-type snapshots.

In any case, it was pretty great watching Miss Melly watch the seals. She was so expressive and so unabashedly fascinated – he could hardly look away from her long enough to take in anything the animals and their trainer were doing. Steve found himself starting to take more and more pictures, because in every frame she was doing something new and amazing. Suddenly, he wished he’d had it out when she was looking at the otters – she’d been so enthralled then too. Maybe Tony hadn’t been crazy to make him bring a camera after all.

Miss Milly ended up being one of the kids who got picked halfway through to ‘help’ with the feeding. He got a picture of the little girl giggling as she held her hand over the pool, a seal rising up to touch his nose to her palm. There was a look of disgust on her face as she touched one of the dead fish, then one of delight when the seal she’d tossed it to caught it. He captured the whiskery ‘kiss’ she got at the end of her turn, and the joy in her eyes was enough to fill his heart to bursting.

Her mom would love these pictures.

Steve was almost sad when he had to put the camera away, though it meant he got to hold Melinda’s hand again. After a trip to the restroom for her to wash her hands, anyway. Dead fish was not something he wanted lingering on her skin until lunchtime. That was still half an hour away, after all, and fish were yucky – both of them agreed emphatically about that.

With her all keyed up, bouncing and babbling about the seals, he decided their best bet was to head to the zoo’s playground. There she could burn off some of her extra energy before they sat down to eat and be ready to visit more exhibits after. Her being fidgety and distracted would not help her enjoy the other animals – she was too young to enjoy just wandering and looking all day. If she got the fidgets out now, she wouldn’t annoy Harley that afternoon. It was a solid plan, and one that earned another cheer from her when he told her about it.

The playground itself was pretty nice and teeming with other kids – some of which he recognized from having just been at the ‘seal show’ as well. Melinda clearly recognized them too, because she ran right to one of them and within moments they were playing happily with each other. Steve shot a quick text to Tony to let him know the new meeting place, then settled in to watch his kid. Pretty soon, he was talking to some of the other parents, explaining about Iron Tsum and hearing funny stories from them in return. It was… a lot more fun than he would have expected, and even if part of him felt guilty that Mrs. Keener’s illness was why he got to experience it, another part of him never wanted it to end.

~.~.~

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Melinda and Harley both seemed to genuinely enjoy the zoo, and charmed both him and Tony into buying them way too many souvenirs at the gift shop. Iron Tsum was kept safe and sound all day, strapped to Steve’s chest to keep him from getting lost. The only incident was when Miss Melly insisted on cuddling the plush during lunch and dropped several gobs of ketchup onto his head. That sort of thing was a pretty regular occurrence though, and nothing a tumble through the washer and dryer couldn’t fix.

During the car ride home, he heard all about Harley’s activity with Tony. It had been ‘squishy science’, which Steve knew meant the genius hadn’t really enjoyed it all that much. Still, he’d managed to drum up quite a bit of enthusiasm for Harley’s sake, engaging in the activity with great gusto. The teen knew all about it too, if the grateful looks he kept shooting Tony were anything to go by.

On arriving at the tower, Melinda was just about done with the day. Keeping her awake long enough to grumble her way through dinner had been a struggle. It was one that Steve was all-in for though, and Tony seemed both surprised and gratified to have backup. They tag-teamed their way through the evening, and Tony even managed to get Harley to help with the dishes. Seeing what the genius went through every night, Steve resolved to help more – even when he came to dinner, he left pretty much right after, and he was almost never there for breakfast. He needed… no, he _wanted_ to be more involved. That night, he ended up supervising bath time so Tony could get some of his work done, and it was him who tucked a half-dozing, damp Melinda into bed with a kiss goodnight. Iron Tsum, of course, was back in his rightful place, tucked in her arms and protecting her sleep.

When he got back to the living room, it was to find Harley and Tony ignoring the TV they’d turned on in favor of trying to build a tower out of bendy straws, newspaper and rubber bands. He thought it was probably better not to ask all the questions that raised. They were both enjoying it, and that was all that really mattered. 

Part of him was sure he should leave – he hadn’t been invited to stay, exactly, and their big day was definitely over. He was free to head down to his own floor to get some drawing done, or maybe he could go through the newest updates on the search for Bucky. There was the gym and some punching bags, or maybe he could run for a while. If he really wanted company, he could go to the Avenger’s common floor – someone would be around and available to hang out with.

None of his other options were even half as appealing as staying.

So he plopped down on the couch and appropriated the remote. A half-hearted protest was raised when he flipped to a rerun of a ball game, but when he pointed out their tower was about to fall over Tony and Harley were quick to go back to their project. It was… nice, surprisingly so, to have their quiet (mostly, anyway, except when they got excited) voices skimming the surface of his hearing. He absentmindedly provided his hands whenever either demanded he hold or steady something – usually to the indignant, squawking protest of the other. When he toed off his sneakers and brought his feet up onto the couch, Tony didn’t seem to mind at all when they ended up half-tucked under his thigh. And when Harley announced he was headed to bed (throwing a wink Steve’s way that made him blush), Tony didn’t immediately kick him out.

He did make Steve change the channel.

They quarreled good-naturedly until they found a movie they’d both already seen that was half over. For a while, they focused on that – Steve quiet while Tony kept up a running commentary that made him laugh more than the movie did. He wasn’t exactly sure when or how it happened, or who moved first, but at one point he made a very happy discovery. Somehow Tony had ended up tucked against his side, head resting on his shoulder. Steve’s arm, in turn, was draped around Tony’s shoulders and they were sharing a blanket that covered both their laps. Since it was warm and everything he’d secretly longed for since… since forever, he didn’t mention it for fear that Tony would pull away. He just reveled in the intimacy it suggested between them, soaking in Tony’s warmth and breathing in his scent. Really, he was almost comfy enough to fall asleep… only the genius probably wouldn’t appreciate that.

“Hey. Thanks for today, Steve.” Tony murmured suddenly, interrupting his own criticism of the current scene on the TV.

“Why you thankin’ me? I had a good time. I’m glad we got to take the kids out.”

“Yeah, me too. It’s just that you don’t have to do this. None of it. You don’t have to help me plan stuff to do with them, or come out with us, or put Miss Melly to bed or teach Harley how to use a heavy bag. You don’t have to do any of it.”

“Neither do you.”

“Not the point. I’m just… this would be a lot harder if you weren’t helping. So thanks.”

“Any time, Tony.” Feeling brave, Steve took a chance by pressing a light kiss to the man’s temple. He was gratified by the soft, pleased sigh it earned him, so he kept his lips against Tony’s skin as he spoke. “And anything you need too. I… I sorta love ‘em, so I don’t… I wouldn’t mind being around more.”

“More? Steve, you already spend a good chunk of your day running herd on the both of them and their schedules. When you’re not with them, you’re thinking about them – you do so much already. We’re just lucky it’s been quiet on the evil doers front – supervillains would never let you live it down if you showed up at a call to assemble with Iron Tsum strapped to your chest.”

Steve couldn’t help but snort at that, rolling his eyes. “ _Harley_ is an evil doer for making me do that. We’re gonna hafta watch him. We might have a budding evil mastermind on our hands.”

“Better hope not. No way Captain America would put his all into going up against Harley. Fuck, if Melly goes evil, we might as well give Earth up as lost. You’d totally help her with every nefarious plot she came up with.”

“Not _every_ plot,” Steve grumbled untruthfully.

“Liar. You are putty in her tiny hands. You’d give her anything she asked for.”

“Maybe. Probably. Hey, you’d be evil with us right? ‘Cause I dunno if I could fight you, even for her, and she’d be real disappointed if you weren’t on our side anyway.”

“You are such a sap.”

“Well, we gotta be on the same side. Cap’s gotta protect Iron man,” he teased, giving Tony’s shoulders a light squeeze.

“On Melly’s orders.”

“Nah. Keeping Iron Man safe has been a priority for a while. Um. About me being around more,” he added hastily, needing to change the subject. He was blushing again, and Tony had tipped his head back to give him a wide-eyed look of disbelief. “I, uh. I could kinda be here to take over first thing in the morning, if you want. I get up earlier than you anyway, and that way you could sleep in.” He shouldn’t have lifted his free hand to cup Tony’s cheek, but he did it anyway. Then he compounded the error in judgement by stroking his thumb tenderly over the dark bruise under one of Tony’s eyes. “You seem so tired.”

Now Tony’s mouth was hanging open too, a look that Steve couldn’t quite read in his eyes. His mouth was running away with him, working without his permission. “My ma always said that’s how you catch flies, you know.” Shit, his voice was lower and rougher than normal as he teased the man again, making Tony swallow hard. His thumb skimmed downward to run over the genius’ lower lip, and when Tony’s tongue followed after the move he couldn’t help but give a soft groan. It took everything he had not to bend down and catch Tony’s mouth with his own; he managed by telling himself that he couldn’t, not with Melly and Harley around. Either could come out of their rooms at any moment, so… so it wouldn’t be right just then.

The time was never right for them.

“Steve?” Tony sounded breathless and uncertain, and he could kick himself for putting that hint of vulnerability in the man’s eyes. God, Tony was so… he was just _everything_ , and Steve was having a hell of a time ignoring that anymore. It used to be so easy to push his attraction to one side and pretend it didn’t exist. Now it was practically impossible, and doing it felt like it just might kill him.

“Sorry,” he whispered, even as he brought his forehead to rest against Tony’s. “I didn’t… I don’t… I should probably… go? Shouldn’t I?”

“If you leave right now, Spangles, I’ll kick your ass.”

“Pfft.”

“Did… did you just ‘pfft’ my threat?”

“Maybe.”

“You are such an ass.”

“Am not.”

“Are so,” Tony insisted, and if Steve wasn’t completely crazy, his mouth was getting a little closer with every word he spoke. It was like… like maybe Tony wanted there to be a ‘them’ too. “An ass and a troll.”

“That’s not very nice, Tony.”

“Cry me a river, Steven.”

“Oh, so it’s gonna be like that huh?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what it’s gonna be like.”

“Oh my God. Could you two _please_ get your acts together and just _kiss_ already?” This time, Harley’s unwarranted, untimely, utterly unimpressed sounding interruption didn’t make Steve jump away guiltily. No, as he gave a groan of frustrated irritation that matched the one Tony made, he fell forward into the other man. When his forehead ‘thunked’ against Tony’s shoulder, he turned and hid his face against Tony’s neck, grumbling wordlessly. “The tension between you two is killing me and annoying everyone else. Like, at this point, you two not being together is harmful to mine and my sister’s development. We’d be better off if you two were smooching. Better still if you’d just admit you’re gone on each other and Steve moved up here with us.”

Now Steve was trying to hold back both laughter and a groan of disbelief. His shoulders were shaking with the effort, and it seemed like Tony was similarly affected. The genius didn’t seem at all upset or offended at the suggestion of them kissing and doing a lot more than that. In fact, both his hands were stroking through Steve’s hair, occasionally dipping down to smooth over the back of his neck and his shoulders as well. Tony… Tony was just as amused as he was, wasn’t freaking out, and was _touching him_. Harley was still talking, but that was slightly less important just then, so Steve was only half paying attention. He’d rather focus on Tony’s hands.

“Look, you’re worse than the kids I used to go to school with. Shouldn’t you be better at this by now? I’m fifteen and you’re both like, a thousand. So come on! Here, we’ll pretend you’re my age and need a middle man for your romantic junk. Hey Tony – do you like Steve, or do you _like_ -like him?”

“You’re a menace Harley Keener, and I’m not sciencing with you anymore, you savage.”

“Tony, just answer the question.”

“I… uh. You know. It’s Steve. I. Uh. … … like-like.” By the time his finished his garbled thought, Tony’s voice was little more than a whisper. His hands were still in Steve’s hair, but now they were motionless and he was tense, like his was braced to take a hit, and… oh. Oh. _Oh_! Tony _like_ -liked him and had just admitted it out loud, and holy fuck. He felt his heart start to pound hard in his chest, and there was a herd of happily fluttering butterflies in his stomach. Needing to offer Tony a little reassurance, Steve wrapped both arms around his waist and squeezed, nuzzling the man’s neck for good measure. Tony relaxed a little and his hands started to move again while they both waited for the teen to finish his self-appointed middle man duties.

“Okay! Great start. Steve – Tony like-likes you. Do you like-like him back?”

“Yes,” he answered a little too loudly almost before Harley had finished speaking. Steve felt a blush immediately start to crawl over his cheeks and the back of his neck in response – God he was such an idiot. Tony’s chuckle was soft and full of awe, thankfully, instead of judgement which eased a little bit of his embarrassment. Maybe he wasn’t a complete disaster after all.

“Congratulations then. You’re now dating by seventh grade standards. At a thousand. At a thousand, you’re finally almost out of junior high. Now kiss already, you big dummies.”

“Go to bed, midget, and we’ll talk about your meddling in the morning.”

“That’s the thanks I get? C’mon!”

“Harley,” Steve started, finally picking his head up so he could look over his shoulder at the teen. “Thanks for your blessing. Now scoot so I can kiss my fella proper, like he deserves.”

The grin on Harley’s face was reckless and bright and so _Tony_ that it made his heart ache. “Yeah yeah. Just don’t get too fresh with him, and have him in bed by eleven. You can join him there, as long as you aren’t too loud – I need my beauty sleep.” He dodged the throw pillow Tony tossed at him with a laugh, calling a ‘night’ as he disappeared around the corner once more. Silence reigned once he was gone as Steve struggled to adjust to this new reality he found himself in – he thought Tony was probably doing the same.

Finally, he couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh of his own, turning to face the genius again. “I’m an idiot,” he whispered, then cursed internally when he saw Tony’s expression crumble. “Hey, hey… no.” Steve kept his voice soft and soothing, bringing his hands up to frame the man’s face. “Not for… not for liking you or admitting it or whatever crazy thing you’re thinking. I’ve been… I’ve been waiting for the right time, Tony. I’ve been waiting for it to be the right time for us for _years_.”

“Y-years?” Tony asked hoarsely, eyes going wide once more, gaze staying locked on his. “For… years?”

“Years, Tony. God, you were the first thing I really wanted after I came out of the ice. You’re _beautiful_ , and so smart, and you drive me _insane_ sometimes with how reckless and ridiculous you can be. You’re the only one who ever challenges me, and you make me look at everything differently – sometimes you have to drag me there kicking and screaming, but you do it. I need that. I need you. I was just… I was just waiting for the right time. The perfect time. It felt like it would never get here.”

“It’s been years for me too,” the other man informed him, voice still rough with some emotion Steve couldn’t quite pin down. “That’s… it was one of the reasons Pep left. She knew you had my- you had parts of me that she just couldn’t, and combined with me refusing to stop being Iron Man… that’s not important though. Ex-talk is not a good way to… to start something. You drive me crazy too, you know. You’re so fucking stubborn, and you yell at me for cursing even though your mouth is _filthy_ , and you never get that I’m ‘reckless’ because I’ve got calculations that you don’t, and stopping to relay it all to you would get people killed sometimes, you ass. But you also ground me, give me something to orbit around – you always bring me back to the real world. Also, you’re smoking hot. Like, 10 out of 10, would recommend but I’m not ever sharing so everyone else should keep their grubby mitts off. And Steve? There’s not ever gonna be a ‘perfect’ time, but… but this seems like it might be really fucking close.”

Steve had started to laugh when Tony went into how attractive he was, relief and love and hope forming a bright ball of emotion in the center of his chest. He kept laughing right up until Tony made his last point, when he went abruptly silent. It was so, so true – before going down into the ice, he’d lost so much by waiting until the moment was perfect. He sure as shit wasn’t going to make that mistake again, not now that he knew Tony felt the same. Later, they could talk about why neither of them had ever said anything and all the little moments over the years that had made them fall. They’d have long days and lazy nights together to get it all off their chests, to air all their secrets and apologize for all the hurts they’d given each other. 

If Steve had his way, they were going to have years together – years of great days and good days, and a sprinkling of terrible days because Tony was still Tony and he was still himself. For now… for now it was just time to get started.

He’d be lying if he said there were fireworks the first time he kissed Tony Stark, because that wasn’t how it went at all. No, when Steve closed the distance between them and brought their lips together, it was warm, sweet and like coming _home_. There was a sense of overwhelming rightness, like this was where he’d always been meant to end up; it was familiar and comfortable even though it was brand new, and he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of feeling Tony’s mouth moving under his. When the genius wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and scooted closer, that feeling of warmth, tenderness and rightness only increased.

A little while later, when they were in bed and he had the genius panting and moaning beneath him… well. That was when the fireworks started, and they continued long into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come see me and drop prompts it'll take me forever to answer on my [Tumblr](http://tahlreth.tumblr.com/). <3


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